VI LIFE AND WORKS OF COPE. 



edge of birds was added to that of batrachians, reptiles, and 

 insects. He showed a particular fondness for snakes. One 

 of these excursions, taken at the age of nineteen, is de- 

 scribed in a letter to his cousin (dated June 24, 1859) , in 

 which, at the close of a charming description of the botany 

 of the region, appears his discovery of a new type : 



" I traced the stream for a very considerable distance upon the 

 rocky hillside, my admiration never ceasing, but I finally turned 

 off into the woods towards some towering rocks. Here I actually 

 got to searching for Salamanders and was rewarded by capturing 

 two specimens of species which I never saw before alive. The first 

 (Spelerpes longicauda) is a great rarity here. I am doubtful of its 

 having been previously noted in Chester County. Its length is 6 

 inches, of which its tail forms nearly four. The color is deep 

 brownish yellow, thickly spotted with black, which becomes con- 

 fluent on the tail, thus forming bands. To me a very interesting 

 animal — the type of the genus Spelerpes, and consequently of the 

 subfamily Spelerpinse, which I attempted to characterize in a paper 

 published in the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences. 

 I send thee a copy, with the request that thee will neither mention 

 nor show it,* for — however trifling — I would doubtless be miserably 

 annoyed by some if thee should. Nobody in this country (or in 

 Europe, of ours) knows anything about Salamanders, but Professor 

 Baird and thy humble coz., that is, in some respects. Rusconi, the 

 only man who has observed their method of reproduction, has writ- 

 ten enough to excite greatly one's curiosity and not fully satisfy it. 

 With suitable appliances of aquariums, etc. , I should like to make 

 some observations. The other Salamander I caught was Plethodon 

 gliUinosum — the young — remarkable for the great number of teeth 

 that lie together in two patches on the ' basisphenoid ' bone ; about 

 300 or more." 



Another passage gives an insight into his strong opinion, 

 so often expressed afterward, as to what constitute the real 

 pleasures of life : 



" Pleasant it is, too, to find one whose admiration of nature and) 



•This passage probably Indicates tliat lie was sensitive to being laughed at for 

 his interest in these animals. 



